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Long Beach Poly star JuJu Smith injured, taken from field in ambulance

The head of Long Beach Poly’s JuJu Smith, 9, collides with the knee of teammate Douglass Montrell Curry, 82, during the second quarter at Veteran Stadium. Smith was taken off the field by paramedics and to the hospital. Stephen Carr/ Press-Telegram

MORE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

Long Beach Poly football standout JuJu Smith was injured in Friday night’s game against Cabrillo and taken from the field by ambulance.

Smith, a highly recruited junior, gave a thumbs up to the crowd as he left the field after a lengthy delay.

Smith never lost consciousness and had movement in all extremities. His aunt texted to Press-Telegram reporter Mike Guardabascio that he was OK at the hospital.

UPDATE:

There were 17 football games played by Long Beach area teams on Friday night, but all anybody on the Press-Telegram Twitter timeline wanted to talk about was the status of John “JuJu” Smith. Injured in the second quarter, Smith was taken from the field in an ambulance.

Our deadline report that Smith was okay was confirmed late Friday night in a series of text messages exchanged with his family as he was tended to at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. After arriving in the ambulance (with his mother riding along), Smith was examined and passed all of his post-concussion tests. The temporary numbness he’d experienced on the field was determined to be caused by a stinger injury to his shoulder—the injury having been determined to be in the collarbone area, an X-Ray was performed, and came back negative.

There won’t be word on the extent of the injury until later in the week, as far as the way it affects his ability to play in the next few games. But Smith was released and in good spirits with his family on Friday night. He was well enough to get on a plane headed to Ohio for his official recruiting visit with Ohio State. Given that Poly plays the two bottom teams in the Moore League over the next two weeks, Compton and Jordan, expect Poly coach Raul Lara to feel comfortable playing it safe with his superstar.